CIPLA files for a compulsory license against Merck’s Isentress

/ By / Uncategorized

SpicyIP brings to its readers another spicy post from Suchita Saigal, this time on Complusory Licensing.  Suchita provides a possible solution to one of the compulsory licensing issues arising from a recent case involving Merck and Cipla.   A recent article published by Moneycontrol states that Mumbai based pharma giant Cipla has applied for a compulsory licence to manufacture Merck’s anti-HIV drug Isentress on the basis that the drug is exorbitantly priced and is inaccessible to needy patients in India. Legislative background Section […]

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LII in India: Kolkata Launch of Open Access Portal

/ By / Others

The Legal Information Institute (LII), an organisation at the forefront of driving open access in all things related to law, launches in India in a big way. The Legal Information Institute of India (LII of India) was inaugurated by Dr M. Veerappa Moily, Union Minister of Law and Justice, in New Delhi on 9 March. LII India has been accepted as the 34th member of the Free Access to Law Movement (FALM). It is currently a consortium of 8 partner

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Breaking News: Justice Sridevan Appointed as IPAB Chairman

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A writ petition was recently filed by the Asian Patent Attorneys Association (APAA) asking that the court direct the government to immediately appoint judicial and other members to the IPAB…a problematic tribunal that has been non functional for the most part in the recent past. When the matter came up before Justice Muralidhar yesterday, Addnl Solicitor General (ASG), AS Chandiok stated in open court that the government had just appointed Justice Prabha Sridevan to the post of Chairman, IPAB. Justice

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Supreme Court Lifts Stay in Radio Compulsory Licensing Dispute

/ By / Uncategorized

We had blogged earlier on the stay issued by the Supreme Court in the long and tortuous radio station compulsory licensing dispute that has been languishing in courts and tribunals for more than a decade now. We reported then that the SC had effectively ordered a stay on the operation of the copyright board order that stipulated that radio stations could play music (over which PPL had collecting rights) by paying a 2% royalty on their advertising revenues. Today, the

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‘Lawyers prevent open access to the TKDL’

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That lawyers are a universally disliked community is well known, and probably brings resigned smiles to several faces. But it is truly amusing to discover that this has what has prevented India’s “pioneering” Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL) from opening up access to researchers. (Image from here.) Lawyers: Keep out! In a brief conversation recently, Samir K Brahmachari, the Director General of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) (the institution behind the TKDL) revealed that the TKDL would

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Sholay strikes back – This time Vodafone is the victim

/ By / Copyright

‘Sholay is no longer just a film, its an event’ Anupama Chopra Sholay Media & Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. the company which owns all rights to the epic 1970s blockbuster, Sholay (featuring Jai, Veeru, Basanti, Dhano, Gabar, Soorma Bhopali & Kalia) filed a law suit, on 1st March, 2011 before the Delhi High Court, against telecom giant Vodafone, alleging copyright infringement over Vodafone’s sale of music and dialogues from the movie as ringtones/caller-tunes. On this day Justice V. K. Jain after

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Waking a Sleeping Giant: Financing University Research

/ By / Innovation

We bring you a thought provoking guest post on the complex issue of financing University research from Dr Roya Ghafele, an Oxford academic. This issue did crop up, albeit incidentally, during our discussions on the controversial Indian “Bayh Dole” bill, a bill that appears to have turned a bit reclusive of late. Before we plunge into Roya’s novel “third way” approach towards research financing, let me try and capture her illustrious career graph in a few paragraphs. Roya holds a

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SpicyIP Tidbit: Parallel Import clause may be dropped

/ By / Copyright

The Indian Express reports that the controversial amendment to Section 2(m) of the Indian Copyright Act may not be incorporated after all. We have blogged about this issue several times previously here, here and here. The report states that ‘the Union HRD Ministry may drop the clause for now and instead initiate a study on the impact that the amendment can have on the Indian publishing industry‘. Whether this is a product of lobbying on the part of the publishers,

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Saregama’s Lack of Standing to Sue

/ By / Copyright

In this post, I will examine the decision in the case of the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, upholding a lower court’s ruling that absolved music producer Timbaland and various record labels of illegally sampling a 1967 Bollywood tune for the song, “Put You on the Game”. Facts:In 1967, Shakti (the producer) and Gramophone, Saregama’s predecessor in interest, entered into an agreement regarding the soundtracks in the films produced by Shakti. The agreement was for a period of two years

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Breaking News: Spike in Indian IP Filing Numbers and Revenues

/ By / Patent, Trademark

A very reliable source at the DIPP informs us that 2010-2011 has seen a sharp rise in IP filings (patents, trademarks and designs) at the Indian Patent Office. And importantly, a sharp turn in the fortunes of the IPO, which apparently made Rs 250 crores this year, when compared with Rs 214 crores last year! One hopes that some of this money makes its way into ramping up the IP databases. The comparative numbers are listed below (these are broad

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